We have hundreds of Deras, Taksals, Maths, Ashrams, madrassas and Darghas with rules of their own which are often at variance with those prevailing in the rest of the country..
The confrontation between Mullahs of Lal Masjid, supported by students of male and female madrassas run by them, with Pakistani constabulary and soldiers caused heavy loss of live. It has lessons which we Indians would do well to keep in mind. We too have hundreds of Deras, Taksals, Maths, Ashrams, madrassas and Darghas with rules of their own which are often at variance with those prevailing in the rest of the country.
Conflicts between the two are to be expected. Do we allow these semi-demi religious institutions to run as autonomous entities with laws of their own? Or do we prescribe limits to their powers over their inmates? The answer is quite clear: when religious practices come into conflict with laws of the State, the latter must prevail. Heads of religious organisations tend to become self-willed and arrogant.
They must be cut to size when they cross the limits. There are different ways of doing so. I am reminded of one prescribed by the eminent poet Sheikh Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq (1788-1855), poet laureate and tutor of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. He wrote:
Zauq jo madrassey kay bigarey huey hain Mullah, In ko maikhaaney mein lay aao, sanwar jayengey (Zauq, these mullahs who have in madrassas been spoilt. Bring them to the tavern and they will be put right.)
It is not for me to suggest to President Musharraf to invite the mullahs of Lal Masjid and their students ever to join him for a drink or two, – or three. All said and done, Pakistan is an Islamic State in which drinking is prohibited. However, prohibition in Pakistan is as much of a flop as it was in India during Morarji Desai’s hegemony. Every one who wants to, manages to get his or her bit of hooch. In this matter our Pakistani brothers are bigger humbugs than we are.
Even before Zauq and Zafar some Mughal rulers discovered the efficacy of alcohol to civilising people with swollen heads. There were princes who wished to get rid of their rivals to the thrones. Some had them blinded, murdered or beheaded.
Some who did not want blood on their heads, simply had them put in prisons and forced them t drink and take opium till they got so addicted that they could not do without them. Their worldly ambitions vanished into thin air.
Eternal Memory
In the other syndicated column I write I mentioned the strange experience of getting up in the mornings with the lines of some song I had long forgotten going round and round in my head. The evening before I had been reading of an interview given by Barbara Holland, a silver-haired grandmother, chain-smoker and chain-drinker, not fussy about that she drank provided it was alcoholic. I was charmed by her candour and exuberant praise of liquor. That probably fermented in my mind all night and I rose chanting in my mind lines I regard as the most unabashed exultation of the joys of drinking. They are by Sufi Ghulam Tabassum:
Phool hi phool khil utthey mere paimaaney main, aap kya aaye, bahaar aa gayee mere maikhaney mein. Aap kay naam say taabinda hai mera unwaan-e-hayaat, verna kuchh na thaa baaqi merey afsaaney mein.
(Flowers burst into blossoms in my cup of wine, you come, and with you, spring in all its glory; With your name is my name in life untwined, there is little besides left in my life’s story.)
Punctuation Deadly Comma: In the good old days all schools were subjected to annual inspection by govt. inspectors. So once an inspector on his visit to the school wrote a statement on the black board of the classroom reading: “The inspector said, “The teacher is a fool.”
The teacher being a past master in the language just inter-changed the position of comma which when loudly read by the whole class was, “the inspector, said the teacher, is a fool. To the best of teacher’s surprise the inspector left the class and the teacher got promotion. Such is the power of punctuation marks.
Too much gas Santa: “I am feeling like a legislative body - Vidhan or Lok Sabha.
Banta: ‘What do you mean?”
Santa: “My stomach is upset.”
Banta: “What does your stomach have to do with Legislative Councils or the Parliament?”
Santa: “I am passing motion after motion.”
